Spotlight Saturday: Malimo Mode and Pinterest

It's Saturday, so you know what that means! Time for Spotlight Saturday! I am so glad that I started this link up! I have 'met' some AMAZING bloggers and TPT'ers through this linky, and it's so great to have so many sellers and creators and educators to share with and learn from!! I would LOVE to have you link up with us too, you can read all about Spotlight Saturday at the bottom of this post and then link up with us!!

Today's Spotlight is being shared by an AMAZING freebie I recently found and the Extreme Makeover I have given my Pinterest boards! First I am starting with a freebie that I think you will LOVE!!

This little gem is the creation of Maren from Malimo Mode. If you haven't had a chance to check out her blog, you REALLY need to!!  Maren teaches in Norway and has GORGEOUS photographs of where she lives and teaches! It's so beautiful, I would spend all my time soaking up that blue sky and listening to the waves crashing on the beach. Love! Maren has some really amazing resources in her TPT store, but I think my favorite is this FREEBIE she created!

This freebie is so awesome! It is such a great way to plan out what you want to create for TPT and how you want to advertise those creations. This calendar begins in June <this month> and continues all through December of 2016! How awesome is that?? There are two main parts to this freebie.

One part of the freebie is this 'Lists' page. See how there are three different columns? You can choose your favorite layout or use all three! I, of course, used all three! Best part is, you can print out as many copies of this page as you need! I'm still on my first but it's filling up fast!!

The second part of this freebie is the actual calendar. Each box is already numbered for you, and Maren even labeled the weeks! At the bottom of each box are tiny tick boxes. Each of those tick boxes represents a different form of social media you may be using. The five boxes are for 'Blog', 'Pinterest', 'Facebook', 'Twitter', and 'Instagram'. These little boxes are PERFECT to remind you what social media platforms you need to address each day.

Here's how I used mine. I used a different color for each task; green for blog, blue for Facebook, orange for Instagram, red for Pinterest. I also use the same color to check off the tick box to match. I have already planned out the entire month of June and have started on July. I really like having this at a glance and it keeps me on track and accountable for my tasks. I have gotten a lot done since filling this out and I find myself checking it several times a day to make sure I'm on the right track!! If you would like your own copy of this amazing organizational tool, just click on the link at the bottom of this post!!

Next thing I wanted to Spotlight was my Pinterest boards. How many of you are Pinterest obsessed and can spend all day finding Pinteresting things to Pin? I can definitely raise my hand on that one!! I LOVE searching through Pinterest to see all of the amazing ideas and resources that other educators have found. I really love being able to Pin the activities so I can go back and look at them whenever I want. My Pinterest boards have gone through a lot of changes since I started. I find myself trying to organize them more and more as time goes by and I use them more.

Here are my TPT board before the Extreme Board Makeover. The only thing tying them together was the fact that I have them in ABC order. After reading different blog posts and Facebook updates about people jazzing up their Pinterest boards, I thought I'd give it a try!

I got to work creating headers for my Pinterest boards. I wanted to create a theme, a uniform look that would work with all the boards. This way anyone coming to visit my Pinterest boards would be able to easily find what they needed just by looking at the titles. I wanted to keep with my Dragon theme as much as possible, so I went with some rainbow ribbons and a background that resembled green grass and a blue sky. Plus, this matches my Facebook banner. Did you notice that?

It took the majority of the morning, but after a few hours' worth of work I had managed to upload a new heading for each of my Pinterest boards. I have 152 boards, so you can image how long I was uploading pictures for the boards!! Now I think that my Pinterest account looks cohesive and the heading boards provide a title for what type of Pins you can find on that board. I kept the boards mostly in ABC order, but I did learn to put the most important boards in the front. So my very first board is for my blog, the second is for my TPT Store, and the third right now is End of Year ideas. When we get closer to August, I'll swap that board out for the Beginning of the Year board. I'll rotate that board out as we approach different times of the school year. I hope that this facelift makes my boards easier to navigate and will increase my followers! I'm not 100% in love with the board headers, so they may not last the entire summer before I change them, but for now they work.

I'm so glad you stopped by to check out my Spotlight Saturday! Below find some important links that you should check out!

Malimo Mode's AMAZING FREEBIE!!

Malimo Mode's TPT Store:

Malimo Mode's Blog:

Malimo Mode's Facebook:

Come on over and check out my face-lifted Pinterest boards, and I would LOVE for you to Follow me on Pinterest!

And now it's your turn! Please link up for Spotlight Saturday and Spotlight a product or project you're really proud of! After you read the rules, link up!!

Rules:

1) You need to spotlight an educational resource that either you have created or you have found from someone else and love! This means you must link up with a blog post you have written putting an activity or idea in the Spotlight. Please do not link directly to a product in Teachers Pay Teachers or Teacher's Notebook or similar sites.

2) If you are Spotlighting a product from your own TPT store or that of another seller, make sure that in your blog post you Spotlight a freebie or a paid product. If you have a freebie and a paid product from the same seller, feel free to use both in your post. If all you have is a freebie, then post about the freebie and how you used it. You can also Spotlight a freebie that someone else created along with a product that you created.

2) Make sure to give credit where credit is due! You will need to include the name of the creator as well as a link to their TPT or Teacher's Notebook store where others can get a copy of the resource as well.

3) Include pictures of the product in your post, either screen shots  or photographs of your kiddos actually using the product. Give us a snapshot, just a brief glimpse into how the product or activity works. Just an image of the cover and one of the pages you have listed in the preview of the activity on TPT would be fine. It gives readers a visual and helps them better understand what your product is all about.

4) Make sure to leave a comment on the post of the two people before your post and the person after. This will help get conversation rolling, and will make sure everyone feels recognized for their efforts!

5) This is not the place to share your frustrations or disappointment with an activity or how you would have done it differently. If you are unsatisfied with your purchase that is a private conversation you need to have with the seller via email. This is not a link up to bash any sellers or their products, and any posts like that WILL BE DELETED!!

6) Follow my blog with Bloglovin' to make sure you are kept up to date on all the latest link up additions. Don't forget to follow my Facebook page too to keep up with all the notifications I send out!

7) To Link Up, you will need to click on the small blue button underneath my closing signature. It is directly under my name on the left hand side of the blog,

Creative Clipboards!

Happy almost Friday everyone!!  Is it just me, or do the days seem longer the closer we get to summer break??

Today I wanted to talk about clipboards.  I use them A LOT in my room.  We use them when we're on the rug, but we also use them when we are working on our Daily 5 language arts rotations and our Daily 3 math rotations, as well as taking them outside to do work in nice weather.  I use them so much that I have a class set (which I will have to add to next year, since we are getting the overflow from a neighboring school that is going through remodeling).  For me, it is cost effective to get the wooden clipboards that are only 97¢ at Wal-Mart.  However, versatile they may be, they are not the most attractive tools we use.  So, I went scrolling along in Pinterest and I came across a VERY Pinteresting idea.  Cover them with Duck Tape!!

I don't know if you've noticed, but Duck Tape has come A LONG way from the early days of the thick, silver tape they were famous for.  Nowadays, there are so very many different colors and designs it can be a bit overwhelming!!  I went shopping around at various stores, and found different designs of Duck Tape in every store from Wal-Mart to $5 & Below, and the prices stayed pretty much the same. I wanted to find patterns and designs that would appeal to boys and girls, so I ended up buying quite a few different rolls. I did find a few different types, and decided to try them all out.  Here are three different types that I tried (I'm sure there are other types out there, I just haven't found them yet!).

The sparkly silver roll, pictured on the far left, is kind of like one giant sticker with a backing that needs to be pulled off before it's used.  This was helpful because I could put the tape right up against the clipboard to measure it out, without having to fight the sticky side.  Of the three kinds I used, this one was the thickest.  That made it a bit hard to work with around the edges and corners of the clipboard, but it still turned out very nicely!  However, I was only able to cover one clipboard before I ran out (I covered the front, back, and sides).

Next I tried the 'traditional' roll, which is the roll pictured in the middle.  The tape on these rolls is thick enough that it can, at times, be tricky to cut.  I spent a lot of time juggling the roll and the scissors while I cut the pieces, so it would probably be helpful to have someone hold the tape while you cut it.  I was able to cover two clipboards with this type of roll.

Finally, I tried the roll pictured on the far right.  This type of Duck tape comes with it's own 'slicer' so you don't have to mess with scissors.  It also has little tabs that hold the edge of the roll, so that it doesn't fold over and get stuck together.  Also, the tape on these types of rolls in considerably thinner than the other two.  I would compare it to the clear packing tape used to tape up shipping boxes.  This roll was super-easy to use, and I was able to cover four clipboards before I needed a new roll.  I think, of the three, this is the one I liked the best.

I think it helps to start out with different types, until you find the one you like the best and are most comfortable with.  I did not try any generic or store-name brand tape, so I cannot give an opinion on those.  Growing up, my mom always said there were some things you just had to pay a little extra money on.  I feel that Duck Tape is one of those things, especially since I want these boards to last as long as possible before I need new ones.  So far, I have gotten two years' worth out of the first batch I made, and I plan on using them again next year!!  I just keep adding new patterns and designs, and I have created a class set of unique, kid-friendly clipboards that they all enjoy using.

I would love to hear about how you use clipboards in your classroom!!  :-)